System for determining diagnostic indications

Abstract

System for determining diagnostic indications which system comprises: at least an apparatus for acquiring diagnostic images; and image processing means for recognizing and measuring qualitative, quantitative, morphologic and/or dynamic characteristics of one or more objects reproduced in acquired images by pixels, or voxels or image data thereof characterized in that processing means and the apparatus for acquiring diagnostic images being integrated within the same device and the processing of the image or images being carried out directly at the end of the acquisition of the image or images as the final and/or intermediate step of the diagnostic imaging session or process.

1 . A system for determining diagnostic indications, comprising: 
 an apparatus for acquiring diagnostic images;    and image processing means for processing an acquired image or images by recognizing and measuring qualitative, quantitative, morphologic and/or dynamic characteristics of one or more objects reproduced in the acquired image or images by pixels, or voxels or image data thereof,    wherein the image processing means and the apparatus for acquiring diagnostic images are integrated within the same device and the processing of the image or images is carried out directly at the end of the acquisition of the image or images as a final and/or intermediate step of a diagnostic imaging session or process.    
     
     
         2 . The system according to  claim 1 , wherein means for acquiring image signals and determining image data therefrom, means for storing said image data, means for generating images from the image data and displaying the images, and means for processing digital images, comprising at least means for determining functional morphologic characteristics of objects reproduced in images from image data and/or means for determining qualitative and/or quantitative characteristics of types of objects reproduced in images from image data and classifying them on the basis of said qualitative and/or quantitative type characteristics, are integrated in the same device and wherein the system provides as output one or more acquired images or a sequence of acquired images and functional morphologic information and/or information about qualitative and/or quantitative characteristics of the type of objects reproduced in images and about the classification thereof on the basis of said qualitative and/or quantitative type characteristics.  
     
     
         3 . The system according to  claim 1 , wherein image data are directly used in order to obtain diagnostic indications by their direct processing.  
     
     
         4 . The system according to,  claim 1 , wherein image data are subjected to different processing processes each of which prepares the image or images and/or image data for determining and/or extracting therefrom numerical values of parameters measuring pathologic conditions including absence/presence and/or evolution degree of a disease or each of which is determines numerical values of parameters measuring pathologic conditions by images or by image data.  
     
     
         5 . The system according to  claim 4 , comprising different chains for determining or extracting different parameters measuring pathologic conditions from image data and/or from images, which chains work in parallel and each chain independently provides values for one or more numerical parameters measuring a disease.  
     
     
         6 . The system according to  claim 3 , wherein processing processes are carried out by one or more sub-sections in turn composed of various process steps treating images and/or image data and they can be numerical input data of further processing means working on the basis of classification algorithms and/or predictive algorithms, which provide final indications about the absence/presence of diseases and/or about their evolution degree.  
     
     
         7 . The system according to  claim 6 , wherein different image processing processes are used in a linked way or as a succession.  
     
     
         8 . The system according to  claim 1 , wherein the system extracts dimension measures including one or more of length, width, diameter, surface, and volume measures of the objects represented in the image or images.  
     
     
         9 . The system according to  claim 8 , wherein the system treats image data by means of a segmentation process for identifying subsets of pixels, voxels or image data, which subset elements have such characteristics to be considered as being part of an individual object and by the following univocal and automatic identification of the subset of pixels, voxels or image data with a real object that is present in the area or volume of a body under examination of which the image or images has/have been acquired.  
     
     
         10 . The system according to  claim 9 , comprising means for verifying that the process segmenting and identifying objects reproduced by subsets provided by the segmentation are correct.  
     
     
         11 . The system according to  claim 1 , comprising means for treating the image or images and/or image data and processing by rendering tools.  
     
     
         12 . The system according to  claim 11 , comprising means for generating virtual scenarios simulating the reality on the basis of image data.  
     
     
         13 . The system according to  claim 1 , comprising means for subjecting images or image data to a morphing, and/or smoothing, and/or pattern recognition, and/or edge detection, and/or feature tracking, and/or registration treatment by means of which image data are only subjected to a transformation such that they can be subsequently processed by automatic or semiautomatic tools measuring or reading numerical parameters indicating a pathologic condition.  
     
     
         14 . The system according to  claim 1 , comprising means for determining a measure in the form of one or more numerical parameters of the shape of the object or object reproduced in the image or images and/or of changes to said shape in time regarding the morphologic characteristics and dynamic characteristics including one or more of elongation and/or compressive stresses and rates at which deformations occur.  
     
     
         15 . The system according to  claim 14 , comprising means for processing images to carry out measurements of a time change of intensity of acquisition signals and/or of the intensity of image pixels or voxels in one or more regions and means for determining changing curves from which specific parameters of functions describing said curves and/or other numerical parameters can be determined such as perfusion curves of contrast media.  
     
     
         16 . The system according to  claim 1 , comprising means for determining qualities or the state of tissues reproduced in the image or images by analyzing contrast maps of said images.  
     
     
         17 . The system according to  claim 1 , wherein determined numerical parameters are input data of processing means working on the basis of classification and/or predictive algorithms, or numerical data of measurement parameters are parameters for independently determining for each processing process an indication about the probability of the presence/absence and/or the evolution degree of a searched disease.  
     
     
         18 . The system according to  claim 17 , comprising a database of known clinical cases for which the presence/absence and/or the evolution degree of the disease is known and for which clinical cases numerical measurement parameters have been determined by processing processes, and means for comparing values of measurement parameters obtained for a case under examination and values of the database of known clinical cases.  
     
     
         19 . The system according to  claim 18 , comprising comparison means for generating a reference value for each measurement numerical parameter corresponding to a certain function of all values of corresponding parameters of known clinical cases having the same disease and/or the same evolution degree of the disease.  
     
     
         20 . The system according to  claim 19 , comprising means for comparing values of numerical parameters measuring the pathologic condition determined for the case under examination and values of corresponding parameters of clinical cases of the database of known clinical cases by using predictive or statistic type tools including one or more of linear regressions, classification networks and/or clustering tools.  
     
     
         21 . The system according to  claim 17 , comprising means for determining results regarding the presence/absence of the disease and/or the evolution degree of the disease obtained for each different process processing images, which in turn are input data of processing means working on the basis of predictive and/or classification algorithms, and for providing the diagnostic indication about the presence/absence and/or the evolution degree of the disease as output.  
     
     
         22 . The system according to  claim 21 , wherein the input data provided to such processing means further comprise general information including personal data and/or other information about life conditions and uses and/or pathologic information of the patient under examination or about the patient's physiologic parameters.  
     
     
         23 . The system according to  claim 22 , wherein the input data further comprise parameters measuring pathologic conditions computed in previous examinations and/or indications about the presence/absence and/or the evolution degree of the disease provided by classification and/or predictive processing means in previous examinations and/or as an alternative or in combination with data relevant to indications about the presence/absence and/or the evolution degree of the disease provided by individual processing processes.  
     
     
         24 . The system according to  claim 1 , comprising processing means that provide CAD functionalities including programs for treating data loaded in memories of a computer and are executed by the computer.  
     
     
         25 . The system according to  claim 24 , wherein direct feedback and/or interaction communication is provided between said means for acquiring images and said processing means with CAD functionalities, which interaction allows to automatically and/or semi-automatically settings of the acquiring means upon the control of the processing means.  
     
     
         26 . The system according to  claim 25 , comprising means for generating acquisition settings controlled by quality verification means associated and/or present in processing means.  
     
     
         27 . The system according to  claim 26 , wherein the image processing means for recognizing and measuring qualitative, quantitative, morphologic and/or dynamic characteristics of one or more objects reproduced in acquired images and/or of image data and/or of acquisition signals from which image data and said images are extracted have means for analyzing one or more qualitative parameters of images and/or of image data and/or acquisition signals, which means generate a command for changing settings of the acquiring means.  
     
     
         28 . The system according to  claim 26 , wherein the interaction between the acquiring means and the image processing means is carried out according to iterative steps, including acquiring images and subsequently processing them by the processing means with CAD functionalities, qualitatively analyzing and determining new acquisition parameters and/or new acquisition sequences and subsequently repeating previous acquisition and processing steps, wherein said steps are iteratively repeated up to a certain number of times until the processing means reach predetermined minimum threshold values of statistic reliability parameters of results.  
     
     
         29 . The system according to  claim 1 , comprising means for storing a database of diagnostic images and of processing data with CAD means relevant to each patient, which patient database comprises further data, including one or more of image acquisition settings, used processing means, and patient conditions at each image acquisition defined on the basis of other physic or physiologic parameters.  
     
     
         30 . The system according to  claim 29 , wherein data of the database are used to carry out subsequent analyses including repeating processes of acquiring images and processing image data and comparing them with images and image data processed of the same patient regarding one or more previous acquisitions or processings and/or comparing them with reference data describing the evolutive condition included in said database.  
     
     
         31 . The system according to  claim 1 , wherein the processing means include one or more computer programs that can be executed by a computer, the architecture of said means comprising a managing logic or program and a set of application programs each of which carries out a different process for processing images or image data or a specific control step, including qualitative verification and change of acquisition settings and repetition of the acquisition.  
     
     
         32 . The system according to  claim 31 , wherein each application software comprises general image processing routines that are called up by an image data processing program that is managed by the computer operating system and which routines are independent of the specific image acquisition technique and/or of specific processing modes relevant to a specific disease and/or to specific anatomical region or regions, to specific organs and/or to specific tissues, and image data processing routines that satisfy processing modes determined by the specific image acquisition technique and/or by specific processing modes relevant to the specific disease and/or to specific anatomical region or regions, to specific organs and/or specific tissues and are directly managed by the computer operating system.  
     
     
         33 . The system according to  claim 1 , comprising first and second separated processing hardware units electrically and/or mechanically connected one with the other, the first processing unit being provided with its own memories for the processing programs and being integrated with the image acquiring apparatus and the second hardware processing unit provided with dedicated memories for the processing programs, said second unit being separable from the image acquiring apparatus and from the first processing unit integrated therein, both electrically and/or mechanically, and said second processing unit being removable and configured for use separate from the first unit and from the image acquiring apparatus.  
     
     
         34 . The system according to  claim 33 , wherein at least a part of the software programs include means for treating image data stored in memories of both processing units and are individually executed by both units.  
     
     
         35 . The system according to  claim 33  wherein at least a part of the software programs include means for treating image data are stored in memories of only one of said two processing units and individually executed by said corresponding processing unit.  
     
     
         36 . The system according to  claim 33 , comprising separated image acquiring units working according to different acquisition techniques, each image acquiring unit having a first hardware unit for processing image data integrated therein wherein programs constituting image treating means are loaded or executed by it, and a second processing hardware unit wherein at least a part of the software programs constituting image treating means are loaded and can be executed by it, each one of said different image acquiring units and corresponding first processing hardware units being mechanically and/or electrically and/or functionally connected to said second hardware processing unit for downloading in said second hardware processing unit image data that have been processed and/or partially processed by the corresponding first hardware processing unit and/or that are present in it.  
     
     
         37 . The system  claim 1 , comprising movable or portable storing means, including one or more of an electronic card, a memory card, a floppy disk, a portable hard disk and/or a ROM or RAM DVD or CD that are personal for each patient and upon which data of a database of diagnostic images and processing data with CAD means relevant to a specific patient are stored, which patient database includes one or more of image acquisition settings, used processing means, patient conditions at each image acquisition that are defined on the basis of other physic or physiologic parameters, and/or clinical and/or diagnostic results relevant to other diseases and/or obtained by other type of examinations, and means for reading/writing data from said personal storing means which reading/writing means are integrated with the image acquiring apparatus and/or with a remote unit processing image data.